Philip Maddocks: With its attacks on rivals exhausted, Tea Party turns its anger on itself

Friday

Jan 22, 2010 at 12:01 AMJan 22, 2010 at 7:16 PM

Calling it a matter of survival, one Tea Party activist said he and fellow activists are planning a series of demonstrations protesting the socialistic and communistic leanings of its party, and have already "energized the base" with a nationwide Million Activist Earl Gray Uncivil Disobedience March that successfully refocused and rechanneled the faithful.

Philip Maddocks

With its attacks on the Democratic and Republican parties exhausted, the Tea Party movement, fueled by anti-establishment anger, says it now needs to turn its wrath on itself.

Calling it a matter of survival, one Tea Party activist said he and fellow activists are planning a series of demonstrations protesting the socialistic and communistic leanings of its party, and have already "energized the base" with a nationwide Million Activist Earl Gray Uncivil Disobedience March that successfully refocused and rechanneled the faithful.

"This is the next logical step in the party’s undevelopment," said another activist. "It was time to take another step back. As long as our ire and preposterous demands continue to converge, there is no stopping us."

Some party faithful said they became concerned earlier this month when some of their objectives suddenly seemed attainable without resorting to the threat of a firearm.

"I don’t think that is what our forefathers had in mind, and I know it’s not what we had in mind," said a Tea Party activist from Nevada.

He said he and his fellow reformers decided to take action before the Tea Party slipped into the dark abyss of complaisance and comparative civility that has engulfed Democrats and Republicans.

"We just had to get angry, you know, get a mental image of our party drifting toward Wall Street bailouts, Obamacare, respectful discourse," he said. "It wasn’t that hard — not with this group."

Many in the party are crediting this new dynamic with getting the movement back off track where it can do the bidding of its people.

"If you want to have revenge against the Tea Party for using you for so many months, the best way is to turn around and use the Tea Party to your advantage," said a Tea Party activist in Chicago who on his blog urged his fellow revolutionaries to stop complaining about the Tea Party and "move in and take it over before Glenn Beck makes himself any richer off it."

Tea Party demonstrators this week vented their frustration at more than 750 Anger Mismanagement Tea Parties in cities like Boston, Washington, East Hampton, N.Y., and Yakima, Wash. There, the irate revelers tossed into ocean waters bejeweled tea bags sold for $89.99 each by the Tea Party Emporium in New York for those furious at "a government hell bent on the largest redistribution of wealth in history."

The events were meant to protest the Tea Party’s reckless spending of the activists’ dollars, particularly at the movement’s first convention, scheduled next month in Nashville, where Sarah Palin will be paid a reported $120,000 to speak and tickets are priced at $560 apiece.

Several hundred Tea Party activists showed up in Lafayette Park opposite the White House, until the park and parts of Pennsylvania Avenue were cleared while a robot retrieved what the Secret Service later confirmed was a box with a slightly altered copy of the 10th Amendment, a Tea Party favorite, which declares that powers not granted to the federal government by the Constitution are reserved to the states or the people — "or the Tea Party."

In Austin, Texas, a crowd of about 1,000 Tea Partiers energized themselves by accusing the Tea Party of restricting their states’ rights and vaguely suggesting that state’s governor, Rick Perry, might want to secede from Texas.

In downtown Houston, there were some in the crowd of 2,000 that poured into the Jesse H. Jones Plaza who also wanted some sort of secession to call their own — or at least a concession from its party that it had become too cozy with big money and forgotten about the real angry Americans. They were joined by other activists from groups like the Tea Party Patriots, the Tea Party Express, and the Tea Party Nation who had grown disillusioned with the view of the country they had been living in.

American flags abounded, along with hand-painted placards that bore messages like "Abolish the Horseless Carriage," "Less Government More General Store Credit," "We Miss Gunsmoke" and "Honk if You Are Upset About Your Wooden Teeth."

The Tea Party reformers are vowing to find more outlets for their discontent, saying the unacrimonious life isn’t worth living.

Said one Tea Partier, "I see no way of justifying any means that would end my anger."